New Non-BOSS Pedals

[Pepe]

Hahaha! I suspect that this applause unit is a re-branded Coron DC-809 Super Distortion! It has the same labellings ("Wave" instead of "Tone"):

https://www.effectsdatabase.com/model/c ... stem/dc809

[bigtone23]

Hahaha! I suspect that this applause unit is a re-branded Coron DC-809 Super Distortion! It has the same labellings ("Wave" instead of "Tone"):

https://www.effectsdatabase.com/model/c ... stem/dc809

Yuck!

[Pepe]

On Tuesday I received an phenomenal pedal triple: three absolutely unused Pearl Sound Spice pedals in perfect brand-new condition! The seller inherited them from some sort of audio unit collector or something like that. The three units have been in originally sealed state until last week when the seller did photos of them. The heat-sealed battery that was in the battery compartment of the Flanger is from January 1980. Fortyfive-year-old pedals - and they are NEW!

I was fortunate having been the first one who replied to the ad. At first I only wanted to purchase the Phaser that I had until December. When I checked it before sending it off to the buyer I thought that I had better kept it, because it sounded really great. This is why I instantly sent a message to this seller with the New Old Stock Pearl pedals, adding that I was also thinking about purchasing the Flanger. The seller soon replied that I should better hurry with the thinking, because some other offers already came in, so I took the two pedals and paid them. An hour later I sent another message to him, saying that I would also take the Chorus if it was still available, although I had doubts that I could really need another chorus.

Now I am so glad that I bought this modulation pedal set. No regrets at all!

The PH-03 Phaser sounds as great as the one that I had until a few weeks ago. Lush '70s 4-stage phasing.

The FG-01 Flanger is somewhat like a mix of the BOSS BF-2 and the BF-1. Very deep flanging with lots of feedback on demand. I really think that it rather sounds like a very clean sounding BF-1 without the noise floor. Really nice, because somehow from time to time I miss my BF-1 that I sold to a friend in the USA, but whenever I think of its heavy noise I'm glad again that I passed it on. The Pearl Flanger might very well be an unexpected gap filler. I have to explore it sounds a bit more when I find the time.

The CH-02 Chorus suprised me the most. I'm not the hugest chorus fan and when I want to have a chorus sound, I'm quite picky. There aren't too many chorus effects out there that I really like. But the Pearl Chorus nails it! It has very deep modulation on demand. I guess the delay time is twice as much as that of the BOSS CE-2 (I have to check the chips in the next days). Very cool options come with the knobs Tone (decreasing brightness - from "10" to "0" - of the modulation sound only) and Mix Bal. (Dry/Wet knob, enabling full vibrato sound in maximum position and less drastic sounding chorus at lower values). I'm happy that I bought this pedal as well. It is awesome!

Now look at these pristine units!











"80 - 1" stamped in the upper right corner of the battery:

[fuzzbuzzfuzz]

a thoroughly splendid haul! Very well done my friend!

Although I have most of this range, I don't have any that are in such impeccable condition. The battery is a lovely touch too.

For myself I am only missing the dual Switch Chorus and the Distortion in the single switch line.

I really must try them all out again, they seem to offer one step above most units of the era, with the wide range of options, often with clean blend.

The most sought after is of course the Octave which - for its time - was unusual in offering both Octave Up and Octave down unlike almost any other compact pedals* at the time. It also was a very clean octave. I may put that one back on the board.

Rarity wise, the Parametric EQ is the hardest to locate.

Anyway, wonderful Pepe, congratulations!

(*Cue Pepe on some KORG love )

[Pepe]

I have had the OC-07 Octaver a few years ago, I also did a decent demo video with it. Our dear member natthu from Australia bought it off from me. I hope he still has it, because it was an almost immaculate looking unit with the original box. I sold it, because the KORG KOT-401 Octave V does everything that the Pearly OC-07 does. That and even more and with better tracking and awesome dynamics. But still the Pearl OC-07 is the best analogue octaver in compact pedal format.

[The_Doc]

What a dream find Pepe. Many congratulations !

[laurie]

WOW!!! That is truly spectacular.

There has been almost nothing noteworthy locally here for months.

[fuzzbuzzfuzz]

Love the absolute NON recommendation for the Coron!
It's like an Applause Super Distortion I got over 30 years ago from a pawn shop. It was $5, so I got it to just see what's up. BOSS-esque build, but sounded pretty bad. It sat unused for a year or so, I plugged it in to see if my perspective changed. Wait, it sounded pretty cool. The battery had dropped to about 6V, the starved circuit took on a more mushy and Muff-y character. Give it 9V and it's underwhelming. That alone made it worth keeping.
I don't have a picture of mine, but it's this model...

mmmm...that's a very interesting unit in the pic. Cornon type knobs in a BOSS alike chassis. Super curious!

[fuzzbuzzfuzz]

This week I received a quite low-priced Coron HD-520 Heavy Distortion in good optical condition and with the original box.

The Japanese brand Coron has first been copying the MXR effects in the late '70s and then in the '80s they have had two pedal series that look like genuine products. Our dear fuzzbuzzfuzz told me that he liked the re-branded Chorus from this last series that was marketed under different names, just as the pedal series from Aria, Daphon, etc.

These units are a bit wider and longer than BOSS pedals, but they are quite flat. They have the same switches as BOSS pedals, so they have some sort of buffered FET switching. The buffer sound is terrible. Worst - bypass - ever! Completely muffled and dull. Putting a pedal with good sounding buffered bypass before it is a solution and a must. And then this certain distortion sounds terrible, too. It makes my 50W Marshall tube amp sound like those cheap and bad sounding 10W amps that come in no-name electric guitar pedal bundles. To quote Laurie: "It sounds like arse." Definitely one of the worst sounding pedals that I have ever tried. It might very well be that other models from this series are better, but this one is absolutely underwhelming and I cannot recommend it at all. Nice looking '80s unit, but utterly useless.

One of the battery contacts was corroded, so I took a metal strip of a loose-leaf binder to replace it. That doesn't look too great, but it has full contact again. The build quality is overall really good. The pedal has a full metal enclosure, only the battery compartment and battery lid are made of plastic.

Review classic there Pepe!

I still can't help but love it - aesthetically

I recall the Yellow Overdrive -under the Mavis brand having a similarly dreadful bypass. But as you mention th chorus was quite nice. Murky but nice

[fuzzbuzzfuzz]

This week I received a quite low-priced Coron HD-520 Heavy Distortion in good optical condition and with the original box.

The Japanese brand Coron has first been copying the MXR effects in the late '70s and then in the '80s they have had two pedal series that look like genuine products. Our dear fuzzbuzzfuzz told me that he liked the re-branded Chorus from this last series that was marketed under different names, just as the pedal series from Aria, Daphon, etc.

These units are a bit wider and longer than BOSS pedals, but they are quite flat. They have the same switches as BOSS pedals, so they have some sort of buffered FET switching. The buffer sound is terrible. Worst - bypass - ever! Completely muffled and dull. Putting a pedal with good sounding buffered bypass before it is a solution and a must. And then this certain distortion sounds terrible, too. It makes my 50W Marshall tube amp sound like those cheap and bad sounding 10W amps that come in no-name electric guitar pedal bundles. To quote Laurie: "It sounds like arse." Definitely one of the worst sounding pedals that I have ever tried. It might very well be that other models from this series are better, but this one is absolutely underwhelming and I cannot recommend it at all. Nice looking '80s unit, but utterly useless.

One of the battery contacts was corroded, so I took a metal strip of a loose-leaf binder to replace it. That doesn't look too great, but it has full contact again. The build quality is overall really good. The pedal has a full metal enclosure, only the battery compartment and battery lid are made of plastic.

Review classic there Pepe!

I still can't help but love it - aesthetically

I recall the Yellow Overdrive -under the Mavis brand having a similarly dreadful bypass. But as you mention th chorus was quite nice. Murky but nice

I am also curious as to the numbering system. There's some very random mid-80s Japanese copies with baffling numerics.